Price of
the ingredients rises more than our salary raise. Each meal, eat at home or
dine out, becomes more expensive. The cost is often higher when the harvest has
been damaged by the poor weather, for example, heavy rains or snow. It is
essential for us to try a few strategies to lower the meal cost. Most of the
methods are simple and worthwhile to be developed as good habits. We can start
the money saving in several aspects.
Zero waste
* Don’t
cook or order more than you can eat.
For the
residue, don’t treat them as refuse and let them go straight to the dustbin. You
can use them to feed your dog, reheat them for your next meal, and reuse them
as ingredients for a new dish such as old bread for pudding.
* If you
dine in a restaurant and have leftovers, kindly ask for a bag or box to carry
them home.
* Try to
make use of every part of an ingredient, such as grate the lemon skin for seasoning
purpose instead of throwing it away.
Small
portion
* Serve
small portion for each meal. If possible, adopt the buffer style, i.e. to have
the foods in big dishes and bowls and let people decide the size of a portion
they would like to have. It’s easy to collect the residue for further
treatment.
* In case
the meal portion is inadequate to cope with hunger, you can have some almonds
and other nuts, fruits, and cookies, which again can be served in small portion,
as snack at any time.
Clever
Mix
* Some
parents don’t adopt the buffet style for fear that their children will overeat,
under-eat, and have dietary bias. They assigned the
portion and forced their children to clear their plate with all foods down into
the stomach. Some
children are more difficult to deal with: they often left the unwanted foods behind
after stirring with their fork and spoon. Those residues always go to the dustbin.
What a waste! Parents can chop the unfavorable food into very tiny pieces and mix
it into the favorite ones. This will disarm the resistance and children are
likely to eat the whole assigned portion.
Wise
purchase
* Don’t
buy foods and drinks more than you can consume albeit the discount.
* Use
coupon to save money whenever possible.
* Pick
ingredients with a longer due date.
* Those
that will be overdue soon should be given the top priority in consumption.
* Pick
the best buy not only among different shops, but also at different periods from
a single supplier to enjoy the temporal discount.
* Bulk
purchase for regular used items only and if possible, together with your
neighbors so that each buyer can enjoy a greater discount for smaller
purchasing portion.
Good inventory
control
* Buy
with a shopping list that has been checked with your inventory in advance.
* Make a
list of your inventory and highlight their due dates. You can stick this list
on the refrigerator with a magnet for easy and quick reference.
* Store
the ingredients and cooked foods properly to avoid quality deterioration.
Wide
variety of recipes
* Learn
to cook with more ingredients. When price of an ingredient remains high, you
can always replace it with a less expensive ingredient without the necessity of
sacrificing the nutrition and the tasty level.
Growing
eatable plants
* Do you have
a garden or backyard? Why not grow your own tomato, potato, and apple, etc.? If
you have neither of them, you may still save money by growing herbal plants in
pots indoors. Many people put the potted plants in their kitchen and nip off the
fresh leaves for seasoning, for example, rosemary, mint.
* If your
harvest is rich, trade with your neighbors for other ingredients.
These
cost saving methods are applicable to one man home, a big family and even
organization. With a more efficient use of our resources, we are not only
saving money for our own sake, but also contributing to a lower exploitation
rate to the Earth. We become more environmental friendly as there will be fewer
refuse. With some many advantages, let’s lower the meal cost from now on.
Other money
saving related articles you may be interested in reading:
